Critics decry White House’s Maha report on chronic illnesses in children

The Trump administration released its second Make America Healthy Again (Maha) report, this time on chronic illnesses in children, confirming a leaked report from last month that the administration would stop short of proposing direct restrictions on pesticides and ultra-processed foods.

On Tuesday, the Make America Healthy Again Commission published a 20-page report that attempts a balance for the priorities of health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s supporters with the interests of influential farming corporations. It also urges an overhaul of the nation’s vaccine injury system and tighter oversight of certain prescriptions.

In addition to echoing the draft circulated in August, it follows up on the panel’s controversial May report, which linked childhood chronic disease to poor nutrition, chemical exposure and “overmedicalization”.

“The Trump administration is mobilizing every part of government to confront the childhood chronic disease epidemic,” Kennedy said in a statement.

“This strategy represents the most sweeping reform agenda in modern history – realigning our food and health systems, driving education, and unleashing science to protect America’s children and families.”

The White House Domestic Policy Council and the Department of Health and Human Services will design a framework for immunizations that emphasizes “modernizing American vaccines” using “transparent, gold-standard science”, according to the report.

Notably, the report does not impose limits on pesticides, despite Kennedy’s statement about using “every part of government” to tackle childhood illness. In fact, the farming industry emerged as a clear winner in the negotiations, seemingly effectively persuading the Trump administration to soften Kennedy’s push to restrict conventional farming practices.

Despite no new pesticide bans, the report suggests the government should measure consumer chemical exposure and encourage precision technologies aimed at cutting herbicide use.

It also adopts measures favorable to chemical and pesticide companies, such as expediting Environmental Protection Agency approval of new pesticides and expanding the use of non-animal testing methods for evaluating chemical safety.

In July, Trump killed nearly $15m in research into the chemical contamination of US farmlands. Later that month, his administration rescinded a $20m grant for clean water in pesticide-contaminated rural California, dubbing the grant a “wasteful DEI program”.

Rather than curbing pesticide use, the report focuses on other reforms such as adjusting Food and Drug Administration approval processes, scrutinizing food ingredients, and updating vaccine technology and schedules. In some areas, the plan advances industry-backed goals that critics argue could worsen health risks, such as speeding up reviews of new chemicals.

The plan also proposes a group to review prescribing trends for children’s psychiatric medications, including antidepressants, antipsychotics and mood stabilizers, an issue Kennedy has highlighted repeatedly, arguing that such drugs are overused and harmful.

It recommends further research on topics such as reusing older drugs for new treatments, employing artificial intelligence in medical studies and investing in investigations of chronic diseases in children.

Scientists, healthcare professional, and environmental advocates are continuing to react with dismay to both Kennedy and the Maha movement.

The president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Susan J Kressly, criticized the report, saying in a statement that it “lacks details” on how the Trump administration plans to address certain issues and “key drivers that harm children’s health, including gun violence and environmental hazards”.

She also said that she “cannot ignore the fact that this report is being published in the context of other recent harmful actions by the administration and Congress that undermine many of the report’s recommendations … This administration’s unprecedented cuts to Medicaid and Snap [the food program for low-income Americans], along with its chaotic, confusing actions restricting vaccine access, are worsening – not resolving – efforts to improve children’s health.”

Rebecca Wolf, senior food policy analyst for Food & Water Watch, said that the Maha report is “a gift” to big agriculture and that its “deregulatory proposals read like an industry wishlist. The truth is, industrial agriculture is making us sick … The report is most notable for what it lacks: any real action on toxic pesticides linked to rising cancer rates nationwide.”

Jay Timmons, CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, called the strategy report a “shocking misstep” that would “harm manufacturers across the country and the consumers who benefit from an efficient, healthy and cost-effective supply chain”.

Earthjustice, a non-profit environmental law organization, released the following statement after the report’s release: “Trump’s Maha commission claims it wants a healthier nation, yet at every turn the Trump administration dismantles safety agencies responsible for protecting our health, and guts protections that keep pesticides out of our food, and forever chemicals out of our water.”

It adds: “Only corporations profit from this scheme, while families, especially children, will pay the price with cancer and learning disabilities.”